Types of Wasps

Flies

Why is "Honey Bee" Two Words?

Regardless of
dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that
can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies,
write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we
have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with
dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies,
just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The
honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; "honeybee" is
equivalent to "Johnsmith."

From Anatomy of a Honey Bee by Robert D. Snodgrass

Bee Dances

A bee that has just returned from a foraging trip will enter the
hive where the other worker bees are and begin dancing on the dance
floor, usually close to the entrance of the hive. There are typically
two distinct types of honey bee dance: the round dance and the waggle
dance. The rhythm of the honey bee dance may vary among different
species of honey bees.

Bees
perform the round dance when the food source is relatively close to
the hive, usually within 50 meters away. The way they perform this
dance is by staying on one spot, and then turning alternately to the
left and right repeatedly for around 30 seconds. This will send out a
message to the other worker bees to locate the food source. The bees
will touch the dancing bee's antennae and trail after her.

Information
about this food source, particularly the type of food they are looking
for, is communicated through the scent of that particular food source.
However, this dance does not tell the other bees about the distance
and direction of the food sources, which is okay, since the area that
they have to search is not very far from the hive.

Waggle
Dance

By
means of the waggle dance a bee communicates to its hive mates in
which direction they must fly to reach a food source. Austrian
biologist, Karl Von Frisch, devised an experiment to find out! By
pairing the direction of the sun with the flow of gravity, honeybees
are able to explain the distant locations of food by dancing. "The
Waggle Dance of the Honeybee" details the design of Von Frisch's famous
experiment and explains the precise grammar of the honeybees dance
language with high quality visualizations.

Bees
perform the round dance when the food source is relatively close to
the hive, usually within 50 meters away. The way they perform this
dance is by staying on one spot, and then turning alternately to the
left and right repeatedly for around 30 seconds. This will send out a
message to the other worker bees to locate the food source. The bees
will touch the dancing bee's antennae and trail after her.

Information
about this food source, particularly the type of food they are looking
for, is communicated through the scent of that particular food source.
However, this dance does not tell the other bees about the distance
and direction of the food sources, which is okay, since the area that
they have to search is not very far from the hive.

Waggling with Enthusiasm

What
factors do scout bees consider when house hunting? And how do the bees
communicate a really good find? Dr. Seeley explains how dance enthusiasm
plays a role in determining where the colony will make its new home.

Pollen Flow: As Important as Nectar Flow

All
beekeepers know about nectar flows; they look forward to them with
eager anticipation. Most nectar-producing plants have been cataloged and
written about extensively. There is however, another side
to the nutritional coin in beekeeping. There will be no honey if
protein is not available to developing bees. Thus, flow of pollen is
just as important, if not more so, than that from nectar.

Recent
analysis from three colonies showed a pollen flow in April (maple
and dandelion), July (various agricultural crops) and September
(goldenrod and ragweed). Although the dates correlated with the
traditional plants present at the time, the study did not give
information about specific plants and how much they might have
contributed to the protein supply. Given this set of data, the
author suggests that the time pollen supplement/substitute would
most benefit a colony would be early March, mid-May and August in the
region. The time to trap pollen corresponds to April through early May
and September. It pays to know these flows, which can vary greatly
depending on region, the author concludes, to determine when
supplemental feeding might be needed. Besides timing and quantity,
the quality of the pollen flow these days needs much more
examination.

It
appears to be the most vulnerable part of the flower to
environmental contamination and serves as a magnet for things like
heavy metals, as shown by Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk at the University of
Montana. Adverse conditions can also quickly erode its viability;
studies in preservation of collected pollen provide abundant
evidence of its ephemeral nutritional value. Pollen is plant sperm.
Recent investigation on non-viability of sperm in animals from
alligators to humans, thought to be the consequences of chemical
contamination in both air and water, may also apply to that of plants.
Though not as vulnerable as other kinds of sperm, being housed in a
tough outer shell, pollen is nevertheless still a far more fragile
commodity than honey.

Lack
of pollen and consequent inadequate nutrition has been implicated
in many conditions that have defied description. Although not proven
to everyone's satisfaction, "disappearing disease", "autumn
collapse", "May disease" and others may be directly related to
genetically inclined to serve protein and thus, pollen deficiency.
Some pollen is even toxic to colonies. A feeding study done in the
Florida?s Panhandle was inconclusive concerning whether or not
pollen deficiency had some impact on bee colony loss originally
attributed to tracheal mites, but the symptoms were certainly similar to
those conditions mentioned above.

Perhaps
the most innovative use of pollen and protein monitoring occurs in
Australia. There gross nitrogen is measured to determine whether bee
colonies should be moved into and out of eucalyptus groves,
notorious for poor pollen flows.

Thank you so much for contacting SC Mid-State Beekeepers Association (MSBA). This email may not be checked daily as the secretary is a volunteer position, but we will respond to your message as soon as possible.

Please email David Gobbel at DFGobbelJr@aol.com if you find a swarm and need someone to collect it safely and quickly.